A
new study finds chiropractic adjustments may very well improve people's
motor skills. In this study, researchers provided certain participants
with chiropractic adjustments to areas of the spine containing joint
dysfunctions (also known as subluxations). Participants' movement times
when moving a cursor onto a target appearing on a computer screen were
measured before and after their adjustments. All ten participants who
received chiropractic adjustments experienced significantly improved
movement times following their spinal adjustments compared with only
one participant who did not receive the chiropractic adjustment. The
average improvement in movement time in those receiving the chiropractic adjustments
was 9.2 percent. Researchers concluded, "The results of this study
demonstrated a significant improvement in movement time with
chiropractic care… These results suggest that spinal adjustments may
influence motor behavior."

Findings
from a questionnaire-survey related study conducted with more than
11,000 women have identified a number of female specific factors
associated with female lower back and upper extremity/arm pains. In
adult women, hormonal and reproductive factors are associated with
chronic musculoskeletal pain in general. Factors related to increased
estrogen levels may specifically increase the risk of chronic low back
pain. More specifically, past pregnancy, young maternal age at first
birth, duration of oral contraceptive use, and use of estrogens during
menopause were associated with chronic low back pain, while young age
at menarche was associated with chronic upper extremity pain. Also,
irregular or prolonged menstruation and hysterectomy were associated
both with chronic low back pain and chronic upper extremity pain. No
positive associations were found for current pregnancy and number of
children.

Many
experts have felt that abnormal plaquing of the blood vessels (most
commonly caused by high cholesterol levels) in the lower back may lead
to spinal disc degeneration and low back pain. Researchers have
released a new study in which their findings support this belief. The
study consisted of more than 900 participants were followed and
surveyed periodically during a 28-year period. Researchers found those
with high levels of serum cholesterol experienced an increased
occurrence of radiating low back pain.

According
to researchers, those consuming small amounts of fruit and vitamin C
are considerably more likely to suffer from symptomatic asthma.
Research participants who ate at least 46.3 grams of citrus daily were
half as likely to suffer from asthma with symptoms compared to
participants who consumed no citrus fruit. Also, a lower intake of both
vitamin C and manganese were linked to an increased risk of symptomatic
asthma. It should be noted that study findings do not support the
notion that those with less symptoms were simply living an overall
healthier lifestyle as all study participants consumed similar amounts
of calories and fat and showed similar levels of physical activity,
education, and likelihood of having smoked in the past.